Caged In
by Gettinitallandthensome
Summary: fire and water don't blend well do they. Happens somewhere in the IALN universe.


"Answer me!"

Before she could open her mouth to respond, Zuko had her pinned against the wall by the front of her shirt.

"Zuko stop!", yelled the younger earth bender from behind him.

"This has nothing to do with you Toph! Stay out of it!", he shot back through gritted teeth. Zuko hadn't expected Kataras comment to had made him so angry. He had answered her question and yet she didn't answer his with a better answer than before. Desperation seeped into him as he unsheathed one dao sword from his back and held it to her neck.

"Answer me!", he yelled as he put more pressure to the hilt. Zuko had put the blade so close to her skin that any movement would have drawn blood, but Katara was not one to be scared so easily. When he had pinned her against the wall he heard her gasp and saw that she was surprised he would ever do such a thing; the surprise wasn't present with the blade at her neck though. In fact, she didn't seem fazed at all by such a threat-that was what scared him as he now stared her down.

She glanced down at the blade on her neck and brought her eyes back up to Zukos. Her jaw clenched and her eyes narrowed .

"**Do it**", she spat out.

No, he was positive this was not surprise she felt. Zuko knew she was challenging him. Challenging him to carry out what he wanted to do. Challenging him to give in to his anger. Challenging him to see if he was indeed the Fire Lords son.

Both of them were now glaring at each other, neither letting down their guard or the unspoken tension between them. For what seemed like an eternity passed before either of the two spoke.

"I told you already...ask the Fire Lord Prince Zuko", she repeated calmly.

The same answer didn't sound any better the third time. She was obviously still stubborn as ever, and it was bothering Zuko that he had missed it. Her gaze had not faltered and neither had her confusing answer still. He had a feeling he wasn't going to get a better one at the moment .

Zuko removed his sword from her neck and stepped a few steps back. Katara fell to her knees and sat back up against the wall again. She was no longer looking at him but looking down the long alley way, and Zuko couldn't help but wonder what she didn't want to say to him. For her to say to ask his father; something wasn't right with that because in all the time they had spent together, Zuko knew how much Katara disliked his father.

"6 years ", Zuko stated to get her attention. She slowly turned her head and looked up again, waiting for him to finish.

"It's been 6 years since anyone last saw you. You had everyone fooled that you were dead, even my father, and for **what**? ", he finished with emphasis on the last word.  
Zuko hadn't meant to ask, but he wanted to know-needed to know. For 6 years, so many questions had repeated themselves in his head over and over again: what happened?, why was there so much fire?, why did she disappear and leave him like that?, and the one question that even now still haunted him on quiet nights: what did he do wrong?  
But he couldn't ask her all this. Not yet at least. He settled for the question he hoped he could better accept the answer to this time.

Apparently her answer being to laugh uncontrollably. Katara didn't stop until she finally noticed that Toph was physically holding him back from lunging at her again.

"Even your father? That's rich, really Prince Zuko", she replied as she wiped away tears of mirth from laughing too hard.

"Like I said, ask your father. I'm not repeating myself anymore. Not with these restraints on at least." She brought her tied up hands together and shook them.

"I'll release you if you stop playing games and just tell me something truthful for once!"

He wasn't going to let this go was he? Katara sighed and shook her head. "Prince Zuko, it's been fun catching up and everything, but it's almost sundown and in all honesty, I don't want to hurt you so can you just untie these please." She shook her hands again .

"Stop calling me that!", he yelled back, angrier than ever. Although Toph could feel his anger in the unsteady beat of his heart, she knew he wouldn't lunge at Katara again. She let him go.

"Just...Zuko", he stated much more quietly. Clenching her jaw again, Katara looked away again. She couldn't bring herself to call him that now. Not before she was gonna do what she had to do.

Regaining her composure, she faced the two before her again.

"Toph, take these off please. I really don't want to fight , I'm so tired of it", she whispered.

Katara saw the girls head turn in her direction and saw the many conflicting emotions cross her eyes. Even if Toph still couldn't see, Katara still saw her emotions play out in her eyes just like she had when they were smaller .

"Toph...don't", Zuko told her sternly as he turned to her. There was no way he was about to let Katara go. Not when he had finally found her again after thinking her gone for good- forever, actually.

The earth bender glanced between the two and looked down finally at the concrete street under her feet

_I'm sorry_.

With a flick of her wrist, she made one of the metal lamps that lit the alley above Zukos head, fall on him and knock him out. She quickly made her way over to Katara and kneeled before her to bend the metal off her wrists .

"Thank you", she whispered as she took Toph into a tight hug. She had missed her so much, forgetting how much smaller the girl was in her arms.

She held Katara back even tighter, realizing that she too had missed the stubborn water bender. Ever since that day, the palace had stayed as a reminder to what Ozais true nature was. All that crap of wanting to take over other land in order to overall help everyone was complete bullshit and Toph knew. In fact, she was just in as much shock as Zuko was when they had finally realized it was indeed Katara earlier in the market . The Fire Lord had made the announcement 6 years ago that the Princess of the Southern Water Tribe had tried savagely attacking him, leaving him no choice but to defend himself.

"Look ,"she said as she pulled away from Katara," you have to go. Now before Zuko wakes back up. I really don't want to hurt him if he tries trapping you again."

They both giggled quietly at that as Katara slowly got up, her balance being a bit off from being off her feet too long. Toph had gotten so big now, and her hair so long. Realization of how much she had missed made her bring the girl in for another hug.

"Honestly...I'm scared to say goodbye. I'm pretty sure I won't see you guys again", Katara whispered into her ear .

Toph felt water bunching up at the corner of her eyes and her lip begin to tremble.

"Sugar queen, come on." She pulled Katara down the alley until they reached the end and said their goodbyes.

As Katara walked away, Toph quickly had another better idea .

"Sugar queen!" Katara turned.

"Meet me here tomorrow. Same time...please. I know you don't want to talk to Zuko and I accept whatever your reason is for that. Please though, **we** need to talk."

Katara was silent for a moment as she thought about the dangers of coming back again. She had promised herself not to go looking for them after she had escaped and she had promised herself if she saw them again, to not let herself break down. Guess it was too late for either.

"...Yea. Ok", she nodded with a sad smile and promptly turned to run down the rest of the street.

Toph smiled to herself and finally let a breathe she didn't she was holding escape her mouth .

_Damn it,_ she turned and made her way down the alley again. _Now to deal with Mr. Hotpants over here._

* * *

A/N: I have no idea what this is but I've had it sitting in my docs for months merp. Just thought I would upload it as I finish the next part for whtk yaya.


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